


Caught in the Tide

by firefright



Series: Song of the Sea [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Courtship, Intersex Character, Interspecies Romance, Kissing, M/M, Magic, Past Dick Grayson/Slade Wilson, Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 17:43:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9335609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefright/pseuds/firefright
Summary: Dick is a sea witch, living alone on an island except for the company of a young merman called Jason, whose life he saved after a hurricane years before. Struggling to fight his feelings in the face of Jason's eager courtship of him, Dick is stuck trying to figure out what path he should take. But when an old enemy stops by his island to threaten them both, he quickly realises the answer to his situation may not be so complicated after all - though that clarity doesn't come without a cost.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, welcome to the story that was originally written as a [short prompt fill](http://firefrightfic.tumblr.com/post/154768589751/i-enjoy-your-writing-and-it-makes-me-so-happy) for an ask over on my tumblr, that then spiralled into this 12k monster as I tried to keep it from being anything more than a one-shot.
> 
> Things not warned for in the tags: me taking liberties with merpeople biology and behaviour (Are they fish? Are they mammals? Did a wizard do it? Who knows!), as well as Slade Wilson being a jerk, though tagging him into anything should probably count as a warning in itself XD 
> 
> Enjoy!

Dick feels his approach through the water first. In the interruption of currents, and the jump of waves over a long and powerful body. Lifting his gaze from his lap to the setting sun on the ocean’s horizon, he strains to catch a glimpse of the source of the disturbance in the red blush of a large fin disappearing back beneath the water’s surface.

Others, those who had good cause to fear what horrors lurked in the ocean’s depths, might have responded to such a sight by getting as far away from the water’s edge as they possibly could, but Dick isn’t one of them. He knows he has to nothing to fear from the sea, he never has, and so instead of shrinking away from the shoreline he simply smiles, standing and walking forwards over the pebbled beach of the cove he calls home to jump across the water and onto an outlying crop of stone.

Once there, he sets about making himself comfortable, sitting with his legs dangling down into the surf and leaning back on his hands to watch as a dark and sinuous shape gradually becomes visible under the water, swimming rapidly through the shallows at the mouth of the cove to his position.

The first touch is just the cold brush of a hand against his foot, followed by the rougher scraping of scales against his calf as Jason circles the rocky outcropping like a shark. Dick rolls his eyes at the predatory behaviour, even as he acknowledges the formality of it; his charge’s kind have their peculiarities, after all, the same as most species do. But his own nature means he’s as impatient as the sea itself, and before too long he’s had enough of the teasing, crooking his fingers up in a signal for Jason to get it over with and show himself.

Which he does in an eruption of water. Salt spray hits Dick’s skin as the merman emerges from the waves, clawed fingertips on the end of webbed hands sinking into the netted material of his shorts. Jason gives him a small that’s all sharp teeth as he hauls the entirety of his upper half free of the water, high enough that Dick can glimpse the remaining juvenile colours of dappled gold and green lingering at his hips before they’re swallowed up by the deep red of the rest of Jason’s tail.

“Miss me?” He asks, smirking as water runs in rivulets down his face to meet the waves washing up around his chest.

“You were gone longer this time.” Dick counters, which is an answer in itself as he reaches down to push the sopping mess of Jason’s hair back from his forehead, “You’re getting bolder.”

Jason shrugs, though he looks proud in the same instance. “There’s a lot of ocean to explore.”

Noticing a new scrape that stands out on Jason’s bicep, still red and angry beneath the scab, Dick thumbs it pointedly, “A lot of ocean to get into trouble in as well.”

When he’d first found Jason, half-dead in a hurricane that had separated him from the rest of his pod, he’d still counted as a youth among the merpeople, and as such had been largely content to remain inside the safety of Dick’s cove and the larger bay beyond it even after he was finished recovering from his wounds; playing and growing under his watch. But now, as an adult, wanderlust was hitting him, combined with the unavoidable urge to claim a greater territory (among other things).

“Say that after you see what I found for you out there.” Jason’s eyes glitter as he reaches down into the woven seaweed bag at his side. The one Dick made for him to go hunting with. “Things you can’t find by staying in your dumb cove.” he draws something out, glittering pieces of gold in the palm of his hand that he offers up to Dick before resting his head on his thigh, trying to hide how eager he is to see his reaction to them and largely failing.

“… teeth?”

Jason nods, tracing circles over his knee as he examines the gift. “From a pirate captain. I thought you’d like them, since they’re made of gold. They might be useful for your spells. And here, look.” He dips his hand in again and pulls out a brass telescope, “I got this too. One of their seeing glasses.”

Dick takes the second gift as well, unable to stop himself from smiling as he raises the telescope to his eye and sights along the horizon. Then more seriously, he asks, “Did you kill this pirate captain for them?”

The answer is in the hungry gleam of Jason’s eyes and the wider glimpse of sharp teeth. “Maybe.”

“Jason, you know I told you to stay away from their ships. They’re dangerous.”

“I didn’t go near their ship.” Jason says sulkily, ducking back down into the water, low enough that the waves bob up against his chin. The scarlet end of his tail disturbs the surface a good six feet away from the rest of him. He’s so big now, even for one of his kind. “They were burying something on an island in one of their little rowboats. It was easy.”

“Probably hiding stolen goods for one of their comrades to pick up later.” Dick muses. He raises the teeth to his eye next, noting how carefully they’ve been cleaned of any blood and gum. The souls of men killed by the merfolk are forever condemned to the ocean, which means he could easily look further into the matter if he wanted to...

Dick shakes his head, placing the teeth down in a small pile beside him on the rock. Another time perhaps, but not tonight.

He reaches to stroke Jason’s hair back with his hand again, sincerely saying the words he knows he’s yearning to hear. “Thank you.”

The smile returns to Jason’s face, before a powerful thrust of his tail propels him upwards and out of the water to lounge on the stone beside Dick. Only the end of his tailfin still rests in the sea as the sun finishes setting in front of them and the stars come out overhead, accompanied by the rise of the full moon to the east. “No problem.”

Dick rest one hand on Jason’s shoulder. His skin is surprisingly smooth when compared to the roughness of the scales on his tail, and though his body is still cold from the water it’s not unpleasant for him to touch. He’s too well connected to the sea himself for that - and to Jason. “So now that you’ve shown me what you’ve found, why don’t you tell me about what else you saw out there this time?”

Happy under the attention, Jason doesn’t hesitate to begin.

His hands lift into the air above his head as he rolls onto his back and starts painting a colourful narrative for Dick’s benefit; tales of daring and fending off sharks in the darkest depths of the ocean. He names several new species of fish he saw, and makes Dick laugh with a badly hummed impression of a mother humpback’s song to her newborn calf, before ending the entire speech with a description of the pirate ship and the island he’d explored.

Dick smiles for a moment as his hand continues stroking Jason’s hair, brushing the tip of a pointed ear before trailing down his face and neck to rest over his strongly beating heart. “It sounds like you had quite the adventure.”

Jason’s eyes flick away from the moon to his own at the touch. Under its light, their normal seafoam colour has taken on a strange silvery sheen. “It was all right. Not so interesting without you around, though. You should come with me next time, it’ll be more fun that way.”

“Jason—”

“Come on, you never leave the island.” Jason’s hand wraps around his wrist suddenly, the sharp points of his claws digging into his skin. “You’re a sea witch, you can summon _storms_ and ride the waves. Go beneath the water. I’ve seen you do it. So why not come with me?” There’s a hunger in him that Dick feels like sea water in his veins, “I want to show you the things I find, not just tell you about them. I want...”

His grip tightens, and Dick narrows his eyes in response, but Jason doesn’t let go, not even when the water starts to churn around his feet in warning.

He knows what Jason wants. Knows what else has come into his head since he reached maturity besides wanderlust. The gifts are part of it, if not the first clue Dick caught onto. No the longing looks and extended touches in recent months had done that.

Courtship between the merpeople is not a subtle process. Less so with Jason, who has been forced to work off instinct and what memory he must have of being among others of his own kind in lieu of having a proper teacher. He brought Dick treasures and protected the reef and deeper waters beyond the island, going to steadily greater and greater lengths to show off his proficiency and power each time. Dangerous lengths, if his latest stunt with the pirate captain is anything to go by.

Things might have been different if he’d ever met another of his kind before now, a merman or maid to attract his attentions, but there are no others for miles around in this part of the world. They fear and respect Dick’s power too much to come close, and Jason enjoys his place beside him too much to ever leave.

At this point, he’s far more likely to drive away any he should encounter rather than invite them closer, and if that invading mer should prove to be stronger than him… it would be bloody to say the least. They would either make Jason submit by force if they were interested, or straight out kill him if he refused to surrender. Neither of which is an outcome Dick can accept.

That’s the excuse he gives himself for not outright rejecting the advances or encouraging Jason to leave the island permanently for the open water. An easier one to accept than the slow yearning in his gut to reciprocate the young merman’s feelings.

“Let go, Jason.” he says quietly, not having to raise his voice to make the consequences of failing to obey him clear.

The stare-off continues for another minute before Jason relents. Dick has proven his strength over him enough times before now that this aspect of their relationship is set in stone at least.

As always, Jason looks away from him first, staring sullenly out across the water. No apology accompanies his submission, it’s not his people’s way. To them the surrender is always enough in itself. “I don’t know why you won’t come with me.”

_Because that’s not what you’re really asking me for._

“I have my reasons, Jason. You’re just going to have to trust me on that.” Reasons he hated himself for most nights, when he lay awake listening to the sound of the waves hitting the rocks on the beach, thinking of the willing temptation living so very close within his reach.

The sea took what it wanted, and Dick is of the sea as much as Jason is, connected to its will and whim. But still he resists, fighting his own nature as he tries to figure out a better alternative for his charge than to selfishly let him bind his life to his own.

If he can only figure out a way to reconnect Jason to his people that he’ll accept…

The angry slap of a powerful tail against the water’s surface breaks Dick’s concentration before he can consider the thought any further.

“That’s what you always say!” Jason snaps churlishly, needle sharp teeth bared, “Trust you. Then you never tell me anything.” He pushes himself up onto his hands, claws angrily raking stone to leave long white scratch marks as he twists himself around, tail coiling beneath him in preparation to spring back into the water. “And you know what, Dick? I do trust you. But after all these years, I’m really starting to think you don’t trust _me_.”

“Jason, wait. That’s not what I meant. I—”

But it’s too late. Before Dick can get another word out, Jason dives away from him, and to add extra insult, he uses his tail to kick up a great spray of water into Dick’s face at the same time, soaking him from head to toe. Of course being wet doesn’t bother a sea witch like him - it’s the motive behind the action that hurts.

“Damn it.” Dick sighs, pushing his hair out of his face before withdrawing his legs from the water and standing up to return to the shore. He can feel Jason racing away from him down to the very bottom of the bay, where no doubt he’ll curl up and sulk now for the rest of the night.

What was a joyful reunion had turned sour in an instant, and try as he might to tell himself otherwise, Dick knows the reason why is all his fault.

 

*

 

Despite his best efforts to apologise the next morning, Dick doesn’t see Jason again for two whole days.

Two days in which he sulks and Dick worries. His earnest attempts to call Jason back to the surface going unheeded, and even the gifts of food he leaves at the edge of the shoreline are abandoned to the mercy of the gulls nesting in the cliffs, rather than taken by their intended recipient.

Jason’s been angry with him before, but Dick doesn’t think he’s ever been quite _this_ angry. Not angry enough to refuse food at any rate, and by the time the sun is rising above the high hills of the island behind Dick’s cabin on the third day, there’s a creeping fear in his heart that he might have unintentionally succeeded in pushing their relationship to a breaking point after all.

And maybe that’s what he’s supposed to want for Jason’s own sake, but the more selfish parts of Dick rail against it. He doesn’t know what he’d do if Jason were to leave and never come back, but the sky darkens overhead anytime he thinks about it, threatening to set the clouds on fire with lightning.

 _You can summon storms and ride the waves_ Jason had said of him, and never was the temptation greater to do so than when he was angry with himself the way he is now.

But rather than giving into the urge, Dick moodily patrols the shoreline instead, skipping stones across the water and trying to find something else to focus on other than hoping for a glimpse of red scales or dark hair breaching the waves.

You’d think after living so long, he’d have learned by now to be more careful what he wished for.

It starts with a dot on the horizon. One he notices on his third pass of the southern end of the beach. Then the dot becomes a smudge, becomes a blob. Slowly growing larger and larger the longer he stares at it.

With knotted seaweed filling his guts, Dick turns and runs back over the rocky shore. Sprinting the entire way until he reaches his cabin and bursts in through the front door as if the kraken itself is at his heels.

In here somewhere. It has to be in here somewhere. He just had it to hand three days ago, dripping with saltwater and Jason’s happy smile behind it.

Dick digs into the large oak chest he keeps at the foot of his bed, throwing shells and bones, gold and jewels and vials of various biles, poisons and other spell ingredients aside until his hand closes around the brass telescope that has somehow sunken down to the bottom of the pile, underneath a collection of old shirts and a net woven from a kelpie’s mane. Without bothering to tidy everything back up again, he dashes back outside, extending the telescope’s lense before raising it up to his eye, praying that both his magic and instinct are wrong as he does.

The oncoming shape has solidified in the time he spent searching. Resolving itself from an unidentifiable smudge in the distance to the distinct form of an oncoming ship; a three-masted frigate if he’s not mistaken. _Exactly_ what Dick wasn’t hoping to see.

A frigate is a warship, carrying at least twenty-eight guns, if not more. And why one would be out here in this part of the ocean, far from any shipping routes, has the hair on the back of his neck standing on end as he struggles to make out the flag she’s flying.

“What is it?”

He almost drops the telescope at the sound of Jason’s voice. Of all the times for him to reappear, now might be the worst.

“Trouble.” He answers shortly, tearing his eye away from the end of the telescope to look down at him. Jason is hanging onto the edge of rock he’s standing on, his expression as darkly serious as Dick’s own.

“What kind of trouble?”

“The bad kind.”

Jason looks unimpressed. His gills flare out in red lines down his neck even though he’s above the water and using his lungs to breathe instead - a sure sign that he’s getting ready to argue.

Kneeling swiftly, Dick reaches for him. Too fast for Jason to be able to pull away. He’s still angry with him he can tell, as his lips pull back over his teeth in warning, even if he doesn’t immediately rip his shoulder out from under from Dick’s touch. “Jason, listen. I know you’re mad at me...”

“Understatement.” he hisses.

“... but this is important. I need you to do as I say now. Go to the bottom of the bay and stay there. Don’t come up again until I call you, is that clear?”

“Why?” Jason asks him bluntly, not moving an inch.

Dick bites his lip. The frigate is coming up fast, and maybe he could slow her if he spared the time and energy to turn the wind against her sails, but it would only delay the inevitable. He’s more concerned about making sure those on board don’t become aware of Jason’s presence here than anything else.

“I can’t explain now. But I will, later.” He says quickly, to fend off the protest he can see already brewing on Jason’s lips.

“Yeah,” Jason snorts dismissively, “sure you will.”

Now is not the time to have this conversation, but Jason is hardly giving him a choice.

After sparing another glance towards the oncoming ship, Dick puts down the telescope and cups Jason’s chin in his hand, making sure they’re looking at each other eye to eye. “Jay, please. I’m serious. Whatever else you may feel towards me, I need you to listen to me now. You said you trust me. Is that true?”

Unease passes over the merman’s face. “Dick...”

“Is it _true_?”

Reluctantly Jason nods. “Yes.”

“Then _trust_ me. At least one more time. Go to the bottom of the bay, and wait there until I call you back up.”

A hand, wet, webbed, wraps around his wrist. For a moment, Jason looks more ready to drag Dick beneath the waves with him than anything else (and Dick would be tempted to let that happen, if he only could), but in the end all he does is nod. “Fine. Until you call me.”

“Thank you.” Dick says softly.

He lets him go, watching the rise and fall of the waves until all signs of Jason are gone. Then he stands up, swallowing hard and running his hands back through his hair before focusing on his breathing.

In and out. In and out. With an ease born of long living, Dick times every push and pull of air within his lungs to coincide with the motion of the waves over the beach, allowing that rhythm to push the tension out of his body until finally he feels somewhat calm again.

Calm, but still nowhere near ready for this encounter.

Twenty minutes later, the frigate finally enters the waters of the bay, drawing up as close as she can to the mouth of his little cove. Dick doesn’t miss the significance of the way the ship is anchored: turned broadside so that the long line of cannons along her flank are all facing the beach and his insignificant little home. An unspoken warning against what he already wants to do, which is raise the sea and throw her back out onto the open ocean - if not drag her down onto the seabed with all the other wrecks instead.

A pointless show of force perhaps. If he could truly rid himself of this particular trouble so easily, he would have done so long ago. Long enough that he wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.

Slade smiles at him when he climbs out of the longboat - the one he rowed to shore himself, because of course he wouldn’t want any of his crew overhearing whatever it is he has to talk to Dick about this time; to know why he’s seeking out one lonely young man on a small lonely island, instead of heading to far more profitable ports.

He looks almost exactly the same as he did the last time Dick saw him: a towering man in his early fifties with pulled-back white hair and a neatly trimmed beard; his missing eye covered by an engraved black leather eyepatch. Only his clothing has changed, updated to match the fashions that mortals wear now - a coat in familiar shades of black and orange over a white shirt - so that none among his crew could ever suspect what he really is.

“Hey, kid.”

The deep rumble of Slade’s voice is openly friendly, though Dick refuses to let himself be fooled by it for an instant. They parted on poor terms last, and he doubts Slade has forgotten that anymore than he has.

“Slade,” He greets him shortly, folding his arms across his chest. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s a friendly greeting. What’s the matter, can’t one old friend simply stop by to say hello to another?”

“Not in these waters.” Dick retorts. He walked out onto a piece of protruding rock in the cove before Slade got here, ensuring that they’re surrounded by suitably deep water away from the beach for this meeting. It’s a message of his own, as much as all the cannons pointed in his direction are from Slade. “And we aren’t friends.”

“You’re still angry, then.”

Contrary to the words, Slade sounds more amused than anything. Like Dick’s a child holding onto an empty grudge, stubborn for the sake of being stubborn, rather than someone with a rightful grievance against him.

“What do you think?” he restrains his fingers from digging more tightly into the muscles of his arms. “You’re not welcome here, Slade.”

“And when has that ever kept me away? You should know better by now, kid, I go where I want. These seas are mine as much as they are yours.”

Slade takes a step closer towards him, and for the sake of saving face Dick can’t back away. He’s forced to crane his head upwards at an uncomfortable angle to continue looking him in the face and, like always, being this close to Slade never fails to send conflicted feelings running through him.

The soon he can get this over with, the better.

“I haven’t forgotten.” There’s a reason why they’ve never killed each other; Dick because he can’t in the face of the magic Slade has protecting him, and Slade because of his own twisted affection for Dick, resulting in a centuries old stalemate between them. “And you still haven’t answered my question; why are you here?”

Slade sighs. In addition to his old sabre, he’s wearing a modern pistol at his hip that’s probably already pre-loaded, but the presence of that weapon doesn’t make Dick half as nervous as the harpoon slung over his back does. Especially when Slade swings it free to lay the wooden shaft across his broad shoulders. He starts to pace a circle around him, forcing Dick to move in turn if he doesn’t want to risk having the older man at his back.

“Business, of course. I’m in the middle of a spot of privateering work at the moment, for King and country, I’m sure you understand.”

Dick bites down on the scathing comment he wants to make. Once a mercenary, always a mercenary. Some things never changed.

“And what does that have to do with me?”

“Relax, I’m getting to that.” Slade looks at his cabin at the top of the beach, then dismissively away from it, “Ever heard of a pirate called William Blaith?”

“No.” Dick says, unease worsening. “I can’t say that I have.”

“He’s the captain of ship called the _Lady Grey_. Or should I say, _was_ the captain. You see, when I caught up to her a few days ago, none of the crew on board seemed to know where he was. Said he went ashore on some piddly little island south of here four days ago and never came back. They found his longboat broken apart, nothing more than scraps of cloth left on the surface from both him and the first mate.”

_Oh no._

Slade comes to a halt in front of him. “You remember how the law works, don’t you, kid? No body equals no bounty.”

“So what?” Dick forces himself to play it cool, “You think I had something to do with it?”

Slade leans down to him. “No. But I think you have an idea about who did.”

He smells like oil and tobacco so close, underpinned by the stench of old blood. Dick feels pieces of himself stir automatically in response, but he keeps them weighted down like bodies at the bottom of the sea. “You’re wasting your time here, Slade. I can’t help you.”

“Can’t, or won’t?”

“Can’t.”

Slade sighs. The harpoon swings off his shoulders into one hand, the butt of the wooden handle planting itself against the barnacle-encrusted rock beneath their feet.

“You know, I was really hoping we might be past this kind of foolishness by now.” His hand touches Dick’s shoulder, resting there as easily as it did when he was a young man only just growing into his powers; naive and foolish and too damn trusting. “After everything, you should know better than to think I’m a man you can fool.”

 _Stay down, Jason. For the love of Neptune, please stay down._ “I’m not trying to fool you, I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Kid, you’re a terrible liar.”

“Slade—”

His breath hitches as Slade’s hand slides from his shoulder to his neck. The grip is light, not restricting his breathing at all, but threatening all the same. “I’m going to ask you again, Grayson, one more time before I give the order for my ship to start blasting this island apart. Do you know anything about what happened to William Blaith?”

 _I know his teeth are sitting in a box in my house._ Dick grabs hold of Slade’s wrist as he tries to think what to do. How to handle this in a way that’s not going to get Jason killed, or himself wrapped up in Slade’s business again in a way he distinctly doesn’t want.

There’s Slade’s pistol. He could grab it out of his belt and get off a disabling shot - not that it would take him down for long, or keep the frigate from firing her cannons. And maybe, just maybe he could raise the water in time to shield the island, but it’s unlikely. That huge a spell takes energy, and more importantly, _time_ that he doesn’t have.

He can’t give up Jason, though. He can’t. So that leaves him with only one other option to hand:

Take the blame himself.

Dick raises his head up, meeting Slade’s gaze evenly. “Fine, I admit it. It was me. You know how I feel about pirates. He came too close to my home, so I—”

“Oh kid,” Slade shakes his head, fondness writ large across his face as he strokes his thumb over Dick’s jugular, before dipping it into the hollow between his clavicles as his grip tightens. “Didn’t I just tell you you’re a terrible liar?”

Dick hears the disturbance of water, but too late. Slade is already throwing him back towards the shore, even as he shouts “No!” in a vain attempt to stop the inevitable.

The wicked curve of the harpoon’s barbed metal end glints in the mid-morning sun as Slade twists the weapon in his hand, then thrusts the blade behind him. The motion perfectly timed to catch the furious merman emerging out of the waves in mid-leap to attack Slade’s back.

Jason screams as the harpoon slams into his shoulder, the sound cutting through Dick’s skull at the exact same moment his body impacts against the hard ground.

The fall jolts him, but he’s hardly paying attention to his own situation right now. Dick only has eyes for Jason, as Slade uses the grip he has on the harpoon to drag him out of the water like a fish on the end of a hook, then onto the shore. He hisses and snarls, his muscled tail whipping through the air as he tries to use it against his attacker - and maybe that tactic would have had a chance of working too.

That is, if Slade didn’t immediately pull the pistol from his belt and point it directly at Jason’s head the moment he has him on dry land.

“Stop!” Dick shoves himself back up onto his feet, ignoring the pain in his newly scraped elbows and bruised hip, “Stop, Jason! Slade, don’t kill him!”

The wood constructing the shaft of the harpoon is strong, it has to be to withstand Jason’s thrashing as Slade goes down onto one knee and holds the barrel of the gun to his temple. The cold press of metal freezes Jason in place, stays his teeth and claws from trying anything suicidal the moment he feels it, even as his chest heaves and blood starts to mix in with the puddles of seawater around them. He knows what a gun is, Dick made sure he was well aware of that.

“Stop.” he shakily repeats again, “Slade…”

“I’m not going to do anything, kid. So long as this beast stays still, that is.”

Dick swallows hard at the unspoken threat, then looks down, meeting panicked seafoam eyes with his own. “Jason. Jason, do as he says. Stay still, don’t fight.”

“Dick—”

“Stay _still._ ” This time he puts force into the words, and there’s no need to fake the displeasure he feels either. If Jason had just done as Dick told him to they wouldn’t be in the mess. “I promise it will be all right. But you have to do as I tell you.”

 _Trust me._ He wants to say, but that would be showing too much if he hasn’t done so already.

“Better.” Slade says pleasantly, pistol still cocked as he adjusts his hold on the harpoon. “I see you got yourself a pet since I saw you last. What’s the matter, would a dog have been too normal?”

“He’s not my pet.” Dick says sharply, ripping his eyes away from Jason to glare at him.

Slade shrugs, as if it’s inconsequential anyway. To him it probably is. “Well, whatever he is to you, this beast took my chance of earning that bounty, which means I’m breaking my contract. You know what that does to a reputation in my line of work. He owes me.”

“He didn’t know, Slade. He couldn’t possibly have known.”

“That doesn’t make a damn difference and you know it.”

Jason hisses again as they talk over him. Whether from pain or fury, or a turbulent mix of both, is hard to tell. “I don’t owe you shit, _human_.”

The effect is immediate. Slade’s eye narrows, then he’s _twisting_ the harpoon in Jason’s shoulder, digging it deeper into flesh and bone. Jason screams again, and the sound is like nails down a chalkboard to Dick’s ears. He makes an aborted move forwards, the water around the area responding to his distress by growing rougher, rocking the longboat Slade rode to shore viciously from side to side.

“Slade!”

“Don’t worry.” Slade says cooly, “I don’t have to kill your pet for him to make it up to me. Not unless he forces me to, that is. Otherwise just a piece of him will do.”

Jason’s tail twitches weakly as his claws dig deeper into the stone. He’s turning paler as more blood runs out of his shoulder; dangerously pale, even for one of his kind.

Dick shakes his head, “No.”

“Dick—”

“The going rate for mer-flesh is pretty good these days. Plenty of fools are still chasing the rumour that eating it can give a human immortality.” Slade informs him, before nodding back down to Jason. “What do you think, will an arm do? Or should I just cut off half of the tail? I’ll need to be able to prove it came from a merman after all. Plenty of imitators out there selling dolphin or shark as something rarer.”

“ _Slade._ Don’t do this. I’m begging you, I—”

Slade is reaching for his sword now, confident enough to put the gun away as Jason’s struggles continue to lessen. “I’m not interested in your begging. It doesn’t benefit me.” Then his lips quirk higher, just for a moment, “Not in this case, anyway.”

Desperation spins Dick’s head, and he hates the enchantments that keep him from truly harming Slade. The ones that mean that it’s always going to be the people between them who suffer, since Slade will never truly hurt him either. It’s a twisted game between them, one that’s been going on for far too long, and when it comes down to a situation like this Dick is almost always the one who loses.

“Then I’ll take his debt!” He spits out.

The sword stills in Slade’s hand, resting just above the rigid scales of Jason’s flank. The merman had started trying to break free again when the blade drew near, but now he too stops at Dick’s words, eyes wide and incredulous beneath a glaze of pained exhaustion. “What?”

“You were right the first time.” he says evenly, spreading his hands out to the side. The wind stirs his clothes and hair, “With what you said about him and me. He _is_ mine. Which makes his mistakes mine as well, so I’ll pay the debt. Just tell me what you want.”

Jason is still aware enough that he gasps when Dick makes his claim. It’s more than just words, it’s a tangible thing. It’s magic and ritual to take on another’s debt as your own, and moreso to claim that person as yours as well.

Doubly so among the merpeople.

Slade smirks. Then he’s standing up, sheathing his sword in an almost cheerful manner. “Now see, kid, that’s what I’m talking about.” His hand stays on the harpoon as Slade plants his boot squarely on Jason’s shoulder, pushing down. “A little bit of cooperation will take you a long way.”

Dick’s fingers twitch at the sight. The end of a harpoon is barbed, which means if Slade pulls it back out the way it went in, he’s going to be taking a good chunk of Jason back with him to his ship regardless of their deal.

Stepping forwards, Dick reaches out to take hold of the wood himself - his hand resting just below Slade’s - to stop him. “So? What do you want?”

The cool curl of Slade’s lips tell him that he knows exactly what Dick’s thinking. But he lets it go, releasing the harpoon from his own grasp in favour of touching the back of his hand to Dick’s face instead, taking his time in coming up with an answer as if Jason isn’t in danger of bleeding out underneath them. Dick forces himself not to shiver at the touch, focusing on his anger, his hatred and loathing for this man, more than any other of the complicated emotions Slade still manages to stir in him.

“A favour. Whenever I choose to invoke it. And no questions asked about its purpose before or after it’s done.”

“Fine, but only so long as it won’t cause harm or death to innocents.”

Desperate as he is to get this over with so that he can attend to Jason, Dick has to add that stipulation. He won’t let Slade use his power to hurt those who don’t deserve it.

Not again.

“Don’t worry, kid. I remember your rules.” Slade nods, content with what he’s getting regardless. He drops his hand - knuckles skimming over Dick’s jaw - and steps away. “The deal is done. And now I think I’d best be getting off, don’t you? I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to miss the tide.”

“Wait.”

Slade stops mid-stride, looking curiously back at him. “What now?”

Dick grits his teeth. It didn’t occur to him until Slade was about to leave; not until he looked down at Jason and realised exactly what was going to have to happen if he wants to get the harpoon out of him with minimal damage. “I have one more condition to make.”

“Oh really, and what’s that?”

“Help me get this thing out of his shoulder.”

Slade snorts, folding his arms across his chest. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“You know I’m not strong enough to do it myself.” Even admitting that is a kick in the teeth. “I just need you to push it the rest of the way through while I hold him still, that’s all. I can take care of the rest myself.” Dick thins his lips as he kneels down next to Jason, running his hand through his drying hair. Jason moans softly at the touch. “You started this, Slade. Now finish it.”

Slade sighs heavily, as if Dick is the one doing the extorting here. “All this for the sake of a simple-minded beast.” But he turns around and walks back over to them, heavy boots a sharp crunching contrast to the light tap of Dick’s bare feet on the rock. “Very well, roll him over onto his side.”

With some effort, Dick does as he’s told. Jason is heavy, especially weakened and limp. But at least he’s only having to move his upper body. If the tail was involved too they might be here all day.

“He’s going to thrash.” Slade warns him as he kneels down in front of them both, taking hold of the end of the harpoon again.

“Why else do you think I asked you to help me?” Dick snaps back at him, stroking Jason’s hair before leaning all of his weight onto the merman’s side. “Just do it, Slade. Get it over with.”

“As you wish.”

He pushes, and for the third time in too short a period Dick is forced to hear Jason scream. Though practically unconscious before, he now comes back alive with a vengeance. His body bucking upwards as he howls and then snarls, teeth bared, eyes wide with pain and uncomprehending fury. His clawed hands lash out, but Slade - the enemy he can see - is safely out of his reach. It’s Dick who suffers, struck by the tail that swings his way before, with a horrible, ugly, wet _crunch,_ the harpoon emerges through the back of Jason’s shoulder, dripping with blood and gore.

Dick wants to throw up at the sight, but he forces the urge back, bending his head down until his mouth is by Jason’s ear. He risks getting headbutted, but it’s worth it as he whispers every soft word he can think of; whistles and hums in imitation of the soothing clicking sounds mer dams make to their young, the same way he did the first time he found Jason washed up on the shore.

“Shhh, it’s all right, Jason. It’s all right. You’re safe. You’re safe, I promise that you’re safe. Don’t fight. You don’t have to fight. I’m here, I promise.”

“Debatable.” Slade says to his right. With one brisk movement, he snaps the greater length of the harpoon’s shaft off from the rest and tosses it back behind him into the surf. “But there. You’ll be able to pull the rest out easily now.”

“Go to hell, Slade.” Dick says tiredly as Jason’s struggles slow, then cease once more. His eyes are closed, and the heaving of his chest is deep, but fast. Not a good sign. “Tell me you didn’t put poison on the blade.”

“Not my style, if you remember.” Slade straightens his coat. “Now, I really do have to get going. Look after your pet while I’m gone, and maybe teach him some manners too. Unless you want a repeat of this experience the next time I visit.”

Dick doesn’t look up at him as he steps away. Relying on his ears and his connection to the water to know when Slade’s back in his longboat and rowing away towards the frigate anchored beyond the mouth of the cove. Even then he doesn’t care if he’s still watching, as he leans down to brush a kiss first to Jason’s temple, then his cheek.

He almost lost him. Just like that, he almost....

No, there’s no more time to think about that right now. He has to bind Jason’s wound before he can lose anymore blood - or worse, his life. Anything else - including freaking out about everything that just happened and the possible consequences of the deal he made - can wait until after he’s stable.

 

*

 

“Dick.”

Dick sniffles at the sound of his name, burying his face deeper into the pillow of his arms. The air around him is cool where it meets his bare skin, and somewhere nearby a gull is calling, it’s shrill voice drilling holes into his skull despite his attempts to shut the noise out.

“Dick, wake up.”

Reluctantly, he opens his eyes to find that dusk has fallen on the cove while he’s been sleeping, stretched out on the stoney beach next to one of the deeper rock pools. The very same rock pool to which he’d managed to drag Jason’s unconscious body after Slade’s ship had finally weighed anchor and sailed back out to sea.

It had been the safest way to attend to the hole in his shoulder while also keeping him hydrated. Ensuring that Dick could both keep a close eye on him, _and_ not worry about the receding waters carrying his helpless body out to sea when the tide went out.

Which he had done. For hours after the encounter ended, Dick hadn’t moved an inch from Jason’s side, until finally it seemed that all the stress and exhaustion of the day had finally gotten to him and he’d fallen asleep next to the edge of the water, only to be woken up now by…

“Jason!” Dick rockets up into a sitting position, staring openly at the merman languishing in the pool in front of him. “You’re awake!”

Jason withdraws his hand back to his chest. It’s his left hand, as the right is currently bound up with the rest of his arm and shoulder, held still in a sling of rough cloth to stop anymore strain being put on the wound while it heals. The smell of seaweed is strong; a medicinal kind borne out of the poultice Dick had made to stave off any infection making its way into Jason’s body before his natural healing abilities could close the wound itself. Merpeople had a greater resistance to such invasions than humans did, but after coming so close to losing him once today, Dick wasn’t willing to take anymore chances.

“Yeah, I am.”

“How are you feeling?” He scooches over to the edge of the pool, half sliding into the water in his eagerness to touch. One hand finds Jason’s forehead, while the other hovers around his injured shoulder.

Jason’s eyes are clear, if darkened underneath. Similarly his skin feels normal - for one of his species anyway. The grey undertone has gone, and while the cold and clamminess would be worrying in a human, it’s perfectly normal for a mer.

“Fine.” Jason mutters, bearing his attention patiently enough, though his eyes can’t quite seem to meet Dick’s no matter how much he tries to look into them. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” He can’t keep the anxiety out of his voice; his concern and regret. “If it hurts too badly, I can make you—”

“I’m fine, Dick. It’s nothing.”

The words have precisely the opposite effect on Dick than Jason means them to. Rather than relaxing, he grits his teeth, shaking his head rapidly from side to side. “It is not _nothing_ , Jason. It’s…” his fingers continue to hover over the bandage, just barely grazing the fabric. “He hurt you.”

Jason looks more deliberately away from him. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.” The words fall out of him. “I’m so sorry, Jason.”

The shallow water of the rock pool ripples, stirred by the rise of Jason’s tail when he looks back at him in surprise. It’s not really big enough to accommodate his size at full stretch, so he’s having to keep the limb curled back in towards his body in order for it to stay submerged. “... what?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, I…” Jason frowns at him, the confused crease between his eyebrows only deepening when Dick belatedly removes his hand from his forehead. “I heard you. I meant… why?”

Now they’re both staring dumbly at each other. To Dick, the answer seems obvious.

“He hurt you.” he repeats, resettling himself on the edge of the rock pool, legs in the water with his hands in his lap. He leans forwards after them, staring at a bright orange starfish that has wrapped itself around a pebble in the water, while nearby a blue crab huddles inside a crevice - no doubt out of a desperate attempt at self-preservation considering the much larger predator currently occupying its home.

“And how is that your fault?”

This isn’t what he expected. He expected an angry, hissing Jason. He expected bared teeth and blame thrown at him like dust from a storm, not this almost pensive thoughtfulness, this quiet contemplation. “I should have warned you. I should’ve…” Dick focuses on the crab, the dainty waving of its pincers every time Jason so much as shifts his tail an inch in any direction. “I should’ve protected you.”

“Protected me?” Jason sounds incredulous. “I was the one who disobeyed _you_. If I’d listened and stayed at the bottom of the bay like you told me to, if I hadn’t killed…” He trails off, voice and tight and angry as he berates himself. Then he takes a breath, gills flaring uselessly above water, and asks the question Dick doesn’t want to answer. “Who is he?”

Dick sighs, lacing his hands together in his lap. “His name is Slade Wilson.”

“What is he?”

“A privateer. At least that’s what he says he is now. Mercenary is a better word; a killer for hire.”

There’s a hiss of displeasure - and of pain. The water laps around his legs as Jason inches closer. “No, I meant… _what_ is he? He’s not human, is he?”

“He is.” Dick corrects, though he can understand why Jason wouldn’t think so based on what just happened. It’s a rare occurrence for a single human to be able to overpower a merman. “As human as I am, at any rate. A long time ago Slade made deals with certain powers; for strength, speed and longevity. They changed him, made him deadlier than any human should be.”

Jason absorbs this. “Is that why you didn’t fight him?”

“I can’t. At least,” he grimaces, “I can’t damage him permanently, he has protections that keep him safe from me in that way. And with his warship’s guns aimed at our home, I was hoping to turn him away without it having to get physical.”

“Until I ruined it.”

Dick looks up finally, meeting his merman’s downcast eyes. “Jason, no.”

“That’s what I did, isn’t it?” His teeth are bared, gritted really. “It’s my fault. I should have done as you asked, and I meant to, but then I saw him with his hand around your throat and I _couldn’t_ … I wanted to kill him!” He snarls, “I still do for what he did. I want to rend his flesh from his bones. I want to drag him to the bottom of the ocean and see the light fade from his eyes. I want to pull him apart until there’s no pieces left of his body big enough for even the bottom feeders to find!”

“Jason!” Dick cuts him off. He reaches out, with his palms turned upwards in what is meant as a calming gesture. “That’s enough. I understand, but it’s all right. It’s not your fault. He knew what he was doing when he came here. He already knew about you, that’s why—”

“It’s not though!” Jason bursts out, banging his fist down on the rock. There’s desperation in his eyes. “I fucked up. He hurt me, a fucking human, and he… he forced you to do something for him, didn’t he? He…”

“I owe him a favour.” Dick admits, still holding his hands up. “That’s all.”

“That’s _all_?” Jason pushes himself back into the water, flinching when he jars his shoulder in the same motion. “Don’t try and make that sound like nothing, Dick. The things he could ask you to do…” he looks sick, afraid and angry, all at once. His eyes filled with the protective fervour Dick values most. “All because of what I did. You took my mistake as your own, you…”

Then he stops, eyes widening. Dick watches the realisation dawn on his face, at the same time as his heart constricts in his chest.

“... you told him I was yours.”

“Yes.” he says quietly, “I did.”

All at once, Jason is drawing closer again. He ignores Dick’s outstretched hand in favour of wrapping his own around his ankle. The webbing between his fingers is startlingly smooth to the touch. “Did you... mean that?”

Dick is a lot of things that Jason doesn’t know about yet, but one thing he definitely isn’t is cruel enough to take back what was earnestly given in the moment it mattered most. The words can’t be unspoken, or wiped away. He said what he felt, and he knows that if he were to deny them now he would shatter Jason into a hundred pieces; break him like a wave meeting the shore.

It would be a sin, one he would never be able to forgive himself for.

Almost losing Jason has made it clear that - for all his wishes to be a better person - in the end Dick just can’t let him go.

“I meant it.” Moving his hand in a familiar motion to brush Jason’s water matted hair away from his face, he repeats the words. “You’re mine. If you want to be, that is. And I’ll do whatever I have to to keep you safe because of it. Even if that means making a hundred deals with Slade.”

He can see the war on Jason’s face, as he’s torn between asking more about Dick’s history with the privateer or focusing on this new revelation about his feelings. Eventually, perhaps inevitably, the latter wins out.

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner? All this time I’ve been…” Watching a merman blush is a unique experience. Jason doesn’t break away from his touch, but he does attempt not to look Dick in the eyes.

“Courting me?”

“... yes.” Jason’s hand tightens around his ankle, although he’s careful to hold his strength back so it doesn’t hurt.

“Because I wasn’t sure if I should.” He admits, “I wasn’t sure if it was… the right thing to do.”

“The right thing to _do_?!” Jason says incredulously. “Why wouldn’t it be? If you want me and I want you, then what’s the problem.” A flick of his tail pushes him right up against Dick’s legs, before his hand lets go of his leg in favour of grasping into his shirt. Using that grip, Jason hauls himself upwards until their faces are mere inches away from each other.

 _Beautiful_ , Dick thinks, smelling seawater above all else. The fathomless depths of Jason’s eyes are even more exquisite up close, heightened by the pale tones of his skin and the brilliant black of his hair. All species of merpeople are stunning by human standards - the maids especially, since luring people to their deaths by virtue of their looks and their songs was their entire hunting strategy - but Jason… he doesn’t think he’s ever seen another like Jason.

Dick realises he had been a fool to think he could ever escape the tidal pull of his attraction towards him, and he feels that foolishness now more than ever as he tries to explain his reasons why.

“I’m human, Jason. Even if I’m connected to the sea, I’m human. And I was afraid that if you bind yourself to me you might regret it someday. If you were to meet another mer later on who—”

“Are you kidding me?!” Jason cuts him off, “You were worried because we’re different species? Dick,” he shakes his head, curls flying about his face. “That’s _stupid_. Do you know how many stories there are about mers and humans who mate with one another?”

 _Many_ , Dick thinks. But fewer that ended happily.

“If we do this, we’ll hardly be the first. And fuck you as well for thinking that I could ever regret being with you just because I might meet another of my kind who I find attractive someday.” Jason carries on, rebuffing Dick’s reasoning at every turn. “I may be young, but I’m not shallow or stupid. I know how I feel about you. I have for a long time.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. I was…” Dick hangs his head shamefully. “I was being an idiot.”

“Yeah, you fucking were. And if I had two good arms right now, I’d hit you for it. Human or not. It’s the least you deserve for keeping secrets from me.” Jason says unhappily. “I still can’t believe it. I can’t believe _you_. I thought witches were supposed to be smart.”

This time Dick laughs. He doesn’t mean to in this serious moment, but he can’t help it. “I guess one of us has to be the exception to the rule.”

Jason keeps scowling at him. “It’s not funny.”

“I know.” Dick sobers quickly, “I know it’s not.” He drops his hand down from Jason’s hair to his face. “Can you forgive me?”

For a moment Jason still looks furious, but then his shoulders sag as he nods, chin bumping against Dick’s palm. “Yeah, I can forgive you. But on one condition.”

“Anything.”

“No more secrets, Dick. I want to know everything. I want to know about you, your past. I want to know about your relationship with Slade Wilson.” Jason’s eyes glint predatorily as he holds tighter to Dick’s shirt, “I won’t let him catch me off guard again. Next time, I want to be ready so he can’t use me against you.”

“Done.” Dick agrees without hesitation. He can’t when he knows Jason is right, and Slade _will_ be back, that much is for certain, if only to collect on his debt. If there’s anything he can do to avoid Jason being hurt again, he’ll do it. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, you only need to ask.”

“Good.” Jason says firmly, looking satisfied. But then, instead of barging onwards with the questions he must have, he goes quiet, looking up at Dick with a different emotion in his eyes. One Dick recognises very intimately. “So… about me being yours...”

The whiplash almost knocks him sideways, but Dick recovers quickly enough. He knows there are formalities to this so far as Jason is concerned, even if he wasn’t old enough at the time he was separated from his pod to know the intricacies of the rituals between his people. There are things that have to be said, laid out openly on the table and accepted by both sides.

“If you’ll accept me as worthy of you, then yes,Jason, I would claim you as mine. I would court you, as you have courted me these past months, and show you my worth, as you have shown me yours.” He brushes his thumb across Jason’s lips. Now that he’s given into this truth, he can’t help himself. “You need only say yes and it will be so.”

Jason’s eyes darken as he talks. His breath shortening with every word. Under his hand, Dick’s shirt fares poorly, as the claws on the ends of his fingers easily puncture through the worn fabric. “Yes,” he says almost immediately, his impatience obvious. “Yes, I want that. If you… if you want the same, if you want…”

“I want everything with you.” Dick assures him. He runs his other hand across Jason’s uninjured shoulder and to his neck. “Don’t you ever think otherwise, all right? Never again.”

Jason swallows, “I won’t. Can you… can we…”

Dick doesn’t wait for him to finish stuttering the question out. He already knows what Jason wants and answers it accordingly: with a kiss.

Light, gentle at first. Testing the waters, as it were, until Jason is pulling himself further out of the pool and pushing back against him. His hand jumps up from Dick’s chest to his shoulder, trying to get better leverage, and though it’s clumsy, the sheer enthusiasm with which he kisses him is charming on its own.

“Easy,” he murmurs when they break, conscious of Jason’s injured shoulder, and one other important factor: “Mind your teeth, all right?”

Jason nods, and Dick watches him concentrate for a moment. When he licks his lips before diving in for a second kiss, those needle sharp fangs are noticeably flatter. A good thing, as Dick doesn’t fancy getting his lips or tongue ripped to shreds as a price for enjoying the moment.

It takes a little coaxing for Jason to open his mouth to him, but once he understands what it is Dick wants, he does so eagerly. His vast inexperience barely a hindrance when placed next to the depths of his desire. Jason tries to haul him down, into the water, but Dick refrains, pulling back to stroke his fingers along Jason’s jawline and smiling when he shivers in frustration.

“Do you know how lovely you are?” He tells him, pleased again at the appearance of the blush on his face. “How beautiful…” Without pause, he takes another kiss from his mouth, “How hard it’s been for me to restrain myself ever since I realised you wanted me too?”

“Dick…” Jason pants. His tail is raised behind him, arching almost over his back in his excitement. “Please. You don’t have to hold back, please. I want…”

“Shh…” Dick pushes their mouths together, using his control of the water to buoy Jason up closer to him. He can feel the way he startles against it at first, before relaxing into the hold with a soft moan as Dick’s hands slide down his body. “I won’t, I promise. From now on you’ll have me, all of me. In every way that you want.”

“I want…” Jason’s hand claws at his shoulder. He doesn’t seem to know how to express it, but the hard push and coil of his body tells Dick everything he needs to know. He broadcasts his desire without even realising it.

“I know.” he strokes Jason’s hair with one hand while rubbing his one of his nipples with the other. Even that small touch causes him to gasp. “Let me take care of you, Jay.”

Dick wishes he could just drag him out of the water and onto the stone beside him, to feel and taste him in every way that he wants. He wishes he could dive into the water himself, and let the strength of Jason’s body hold him down as they writhed together beneath the waves, but right now he can’t. Jason is injured, and attempting to do anything too strenuous will only succeed in ripping that wound back open again.

Dick has been the cause of enough pain for Jason these past three days, he refuses to hurt him any further now.

“Hey,” he murmurs as they kiss. Jason’s technique improves with every meeting of their lips, tongue eagerly licking against Dick’s own. “Roll over onto your side for me?”

There’s a pause, a flick of Jason’s eyes up to his as he tries to understand the reasoning behind Dick’s request, but soon enough he nods and obeys. Dick holds his breath as Jason maneuvers himself carefully within the chest-deep waters of the pool, dislodging plant and animal life in equal measure before he’s settled again. It’s a good choice of position, as Jason is laid on his uninjured side, which lessens the danger of pressure being accidentally applied in the one place where it won’t be welcome.

It also grants Dick an unparalleled view of his body. His chest, stomach, and the smaller rose-coloured scales that ride down the center of his tail. The part of him that transitions from human in appearance to something else, something alien. The place where his eager cock has now slipped free of the protective sheath it normally resides in, and lower still, the sleek pink slit of an opening positioned between his pelvic fins.

Dick’s swallows hard at the sight of it.

It was little known to most that the merpeople were, at least according to humanity’s own stiff definitions, of both male and female genders, regardless of their outward appearance. That two mermen could just as easily pair up and breed together as with a maid, and vice versa. Even Dick had been ignorant of that fact for a great many years, at least until the first time he fell in love with one of their people; a gorgeous dark-skinned maid with lustrous red hair from the tropical seas, who in their lengthy courtship had taught him so much about her species and the oceans both before they fell apart.

Now looking at Jason, his cock hardens with memory and present desires both, tenting the front of his shorts as he slips down into the water to kneel beside him.

“You’re beautiful.” He tells Jason again, before kissing him, trailing his fingers along the scales of his flank. Here they’re hard as diamonds beneath his touch, changing shade at every turn under the varying light and shadow dappling the water.

“You just going to keep telling me that, or show me?” Jason says, chin raised defiantly even as he shivers under Dick’s gaze.

He laughs, “Oh show, definitely show. You trust me, don’t you?”

It’s a heavier question than he means it to be in light of recent events, but Jason doesn’t disappoint him. He nods his head almost immediately, before pillowing his cheek against his muscled bicep on the rocky shelf of the pool. The other arm shakes in its sling a little, clearly fighting the urge break the bindings so he can reach out and touch.. “Yeah. Yeah I do, Dick.”

Dick releases a breath he didn’t even realise he was holding, “Thank you.” And with that, he gives out one last necessary command before he sets to work. “Then stay still.”

Jason acknowledges him with a nod, clearly confused about why but not voicing it. He has his answer soon enough though, as Dick reaches forwards, running his left hand down his chest and belly, until it comes into contact with and wraps around his cock in the water.

“Dick…”

Jason’s eyes widen as he hisses, the end of his tail twitching already. Contrary to the rest of him, the shaft in Dick’s hand is hot to the touch, pulsing against his palm and fingers as he lazily strokes it, and when he tightens his grasp Jason’s soft gasping soon transcends into a moan. Dick acknowledges with a possessive sort of pride that this must be the first time anyone has touched him like this - that _he_ is the first, and hopefully only one who will ever know the way Jason looks in this moment.

“That’s it.” he praises, “Just relax. I’ll take care of you. You look so gorgeous like this, Jay, feel so good in my hand.”

Jason moans again, turning his face upwards to meet Dick’s kiss when he leans down towards him. He could come just like this, Dick knows, so easily with only his hand around his cock, but he has another trick up his sleeve to test yet. Another idea to make this first time memorable for the both of them.

Biting down on the smirk that wants to show itself on his lips, Dick reaches out to the water around him once more, gathering it up with the aid of his magic and creating currents where none should be. At the first ripple pressing against him Jason hisses, then his eyes widen as his lips part to reveal teeth that are creeping back to sharp points once more. “What are you…”

“Trust me.” Dick repeats against the tapered shell of his ear before kissing it, letting the water bubble around his chest and the sensitive areas of his fins at the same time as pressing against that soft pink slit in his tail. “Tell me to stop if you have to, but trust me first.”

Jason swallows, the sound wet and thick before he settles down again. Dick rewards him for doing so with another kiss and a soft nuzzle against his cheek, before he concentrates on pressing forwards with his plan.

The water is his gift, partnered with the air. A long time ago, Dick was born on a ship, back in the days before the use of gunpowder and cannon. Before his feet knew what it was like to touch dry land, he knew how to climb the rigging, to swing from sail to sail. In those days his magic had been an incredible blessing both to him and his family, but his use of it had been as equally clumsy as beneficial, more power than finesse; nothing compared to the intricate feats he is capable of now when he puts his mind to it.

Moving the water in subtle ways around Jason’s body, Dick uses it to rush and ripple over every sensitive area he knows. The places where his scales are smaller and thinner, tickling in under every fin until Jason has his eyes shut, panting as Dick tests him, figuring out which spots get the best results.

“You like this, Jay?” he asks him, the hand that’s not busy stroking Jason’s cock now pressing down into his hair, keeping his head in place against his arm to ensure he doesn’t try to buck up and hurt himself. “Does it feel good when I touch you like this?”

“Fuck,” Jason whimpers, “Fuck, Dick, I…”

“Does it?”

“Yes, I… yes it feels good, Dick. Depths below, it feels good!”

He smiles, thrumming with pleasure despite his own neglected erection at this point. “That’s good. You’re doing so good, Jay. Just a little more, all right? A little more, then I want you to come for me, I want you to show me what that looks like.”

Jason’s eyes open again into slits. His teeth are fully extended now, as are the claws on both his hands. “More… ah, what do you mean…”

“I mean…” Dick kisses his cheek, then moves his mouth further down to run his tongue along the slits of the gills in his neck. “ _This_.”

He doesn’t know exactly what reaction he’s going to get when he worms the water inside of Jason, pushing between the scales and folds of skin that protect that opening, but whatever scenario he imagined before, it’s nothing compared to the reality. Jason cries out, loudly. His voice rises up into the sky above, and it’s lucky that Dick is holding his head down in that moment, as his tail arches up out of the water, then crashes back down beneath the surface with a tremendous splash.

At the same time his cock pulses against Dick’s hand, and when he takes his face away from Jason’s neck to look down it’s to find the water there now clouded with the milky white evidence of his release.

“Jay,” he whispers, awed at the display. Then carefully, wary of how sensitive he must be, he withdraws the bolt of water from within him, letting his control go as he takes his hand away from his cock as well.

“Fuck… fuck...”

“Are you okay?” Dick asks softly, trying to tilt Jason’s face around to look at him. He’s wonderfully flushed, cheeks almost matching the colour of his tail as he stares across at Dick with dazed eyes.

“I…” It takes him a moment to put the words together. “I think so… I… that felt...”

Dick allows himself a smug smile, fuelled by pride. “Good, I take it?”

“Yeah, good.” Jason shivers as he moves to sit up, propping himself up out of the water with his arm. “I didn’t… didn’t know you could do… er, that.”

He laughs a little, blushing himself as Jason moves closer to him. “Truth be told, that was the first time I’ve ever tried that particular maneuver. I’m glad it worked.”

This time when Jason kisses him, it’s gentler. His teeth - though sharp again - only nip lightly at his lips. “Can I touch you now?”

“I’d be very disappointed if you didn’t.” Dick answers, reaching to loop both his arms around Jason’s neck. His manipulation of the water has them both thoroughly soaked, and Dick shivers at the droplets he can feel running down his spine underneath his shirt.

It’s with surprising care that Jason reaches for him, after adjusting his position in the pool so that he doesn’t need his only useful hand to support his weight in the shallow water. His touch is curious, exploratory, skimming over Dick’s thighs before tugging at his shorts. The fabric tears a little, but that’s fine, at this point he’s far beyond caring about something as meaningless as clothing.

“Jay,” Dick gasps as that large hand wraps around him. “Yes, Jay. Please touch me.” the water laps around his chest, sloshing with every motion of Jason’s arm as he strokes him. Slowly at first, then faster once he gets a feeling for it. “That’s it, just keep doing that. Just keep…”

He’s already so close, wound up by this being the first time in a long time that anyone’s touched him but himself, and the fact that it’s Jason. Jason, who he just watched come apart under his own hands; _Jason_ , who has agreed to be his as much as Dick had vowed to belong to him in turn. With that in mind, how on earth could he expect to last long at all?

Dick cries out unashamedly as he comes, hips jerking up into Jason’s hand, muddying the water of the pool still further with his own seed. He can’t see his face as he squeezes his eyes closed, but he can hear the sharp intake of Jason’s breath at every pulse of his cock, and the mer easily takes his weight when Dick collapses in against his chest.

“Are you… was that all right?” he asks after a minute has passed and Dick hasn’t stirred, slipping his hand from around his cock to rest on his hip instead. Jason sounds almost nervous, and it’s sadly sweet that he could ever think that Dick would be displeased with him over something that felt so wonderful.

“That was great.” He hastens to put to rest his doubts, forcing himself to raise his head so Jason can see his face and the smile on his lips. Dick reaches up to stroke his cheek. “Better than great, actually. Amazing.”

“Amazing.” Jason echoes, mirroring the smile back at him.

They kiss again, and it’s better still; the best yet, as a matter of fact. Dick guides Jason to lie back against the edge of the pool before he settles down on his left side, head resting over his broad chest above the strong beating of his heart. When he moves his legs, they brush against Jason’s tail, and Dick has to fight back a laugh when he moves his fins in a way that tickles the soles of his feet.

“Your fingers are doing that thing where they go wrinkly again.” Jason murmurs, squinting down as he rests his chin on top of Dick’s head. He sounds tired, and is probably due another nap before they get to anything else. “It’s so strange that human skin does that.”

“I know,” Dick smiles, “But it’s worth putting up with to stay here with you.”

Later, there will almost certainly be more questions. Discussions of what they’ll do when Slade returns at the very least, but for now Dick puts all that out of mind. He’s here, safely at home in his cove, and he’s with Jason.

**Author's Note:**

> [Firefright on tumblr](http://firefrightfic.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Kudos and comments are vastly appreciated <3


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